Niamh Vincent runs a Personal Best of 92:16 at the Vitality Half-Marathon

Niamh Vincent, from Striders of Croydon, had an excellent run in the Vitality Half-Marathon in Greenwich on Sunday. In a field of more than 15,000 runners, she finished in a new personal best of 92 minutes 16 seconds, which lifts her to ninth place in Striders’ all-time women’s rankings. Striders’ men were led by Erik Schrijnmaekers who finished in 87 minutes 48 seconds, while Dave Vinton ran 94 minutes 32.

On Friday, Krzysztof Klidzia ran well to finish second in the over-50 age-group in the Serpentine five-kilometre road race in Hyde Park, placing 34th overall in 18 minutes 06. Club colleague Dave Shaw was second in the over-55 age-group, placing 45th overall (18:41). On the following day Klidzia showed good powers of recovery by placing first out of 86 finishers at the Riddlesdown parkrun, completing the wet and muddy five-kilometre course in 20 minutes 05 seconds. Club colleague Andrew Aitken was second in the South Norwood parkrun (19:49) with James Rhodes third (19:54), while Lee Flanagan was second in the Lloyd parkrun (19:58). Ally Whitlock was the third woman to finish the Roundshaw parkrun, placing 20th overall (26:01), while Caroline Whittaker was the third woman to finish the Beckenham Place parkrun, placing 36th overall (26:49). Marianne Chua was the fourth woman to finish the Hikarigaoka koen parkrun in Japan, placing 17th overall (21:31), while Selena Wong was the fourth woman to finish the Riddlesdown parkrun, placing 28th overall (27:09). Striders had a total of 63 finishers in the various weekly parkruns.

This Saturday (7th) Striders will be competing in the final East Surrey League cross-country race of the season, on their home course in Lloyd Park.